How to Earn a Sandy (Sandie) in Golf

Sandies Can Be a Golf Bet or a Tour Statistical Category

LPGA golfer Gerina Piller plays from a bunker during the 2016 US Women's Open
Trying to earn a sandy. Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Depending on who's using the term, a "sandy" can mean making par on a hole in which you were in a bunker, or getting out of a bunker and into the hole in two strokes (also known as getting up-and-down from the sand).

Also called "sandies" (or spelled "sandie" when singular), the sandy is either:

  • A golf bet played within a group of golfers;
  • Or another name for the pro tour statistical category officially called "sand saves" or "sand save percentage."

Let's go over both uses and explain what the term means, starting with the tour stat.

Key Takeaways

  • In professional golf, a "sandy" happens when a golfer gets up-and-down in two strokes from a greenside bunker. Sandies are tracked in a statistic called sand save percentage.
  • In recreational golf, "sandies" is the name of a betting game in which golfers who earn a sandy (which might be defined slightly differently by different groups) win a dollar amount or points.

Sandy As in Sand Save Percentage

On the professional golf tours, one of the statistical categories is named either "Sand Saves" or "Sand Save Percentage." This statistic tracks what the tour players informally call sandies.

The PGA Tour defines sand save percentage this way:

"The percent of time a player was able to get 'up and down' once in a greenside sand bunker (regardless of score). Note: 'Up and down' indicates it took the player two shots or less to put the ball in the hole from that point."

In this usage, the golfer's final score on the hole does not matter. If the golfer is in a greenside bunker on a hole but then gets up-and-down — whether that results in a score of 4, 6 or 12 — it counts as a sand save, or "sandy."

So another way to think of sand save percentage is this: The percent of time a pro golfer earns a sandy out of a greenside bunker.

You can view the current tour leaders in sand saves, plus the standings for past years, at these links:

The Sandies Side Bet

For recreational golfers, "sandy" is more likely to refer to a betting game played within a group of golfers. In the betting game, each sandy has either a dollar value or a point value. Golfers in the group agree before the round, usually by saying something along the lines of, "We're playing sandies today, each sandy is worth a dollar."

Then, during the 18 holes, any golfer in the group who earns a sandy wins the agreed-upon value. But what, exactly, constitutes a sandy in this context? There are two ways golfers usually play the sandies bet:

  • A golfer who makes par on a hole after hitting into a bunker on that hole wins a sandy;
  • or (like in the pro tour definition) a golfer who gets up-and-down in two out of a bunker wins a sandy.

Obviously, golfers in your group need to agree on the particulars of the bet before teeing off the round.